NSC raises alarm over China's claims on Batanes

MANILA, Philippines — The National Security Council raised alarm on the claim of Chinese scholars in Batanes, firmly saying that such statements should not be ignored.

In a statement issued on Friday, July 10, National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban Jr. said that the statement of Chinese scholars, insisting that the northernmost province of the country is an extension of Taiwan during a symposium at Jinan University in Guangzhou, has “no merit.”

Oban added that false claims pose a threat to the country’s national security and should not be taken lightly.

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READ: NHCP debunks claims of scholars who said Batanes belongs to China

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“But from a national security perspective, we cannot ignore how false narratives can be repeated to manufacture ambiguity where none exists,” Oban stated.

He further highlighted that the incident is significantly relevant as the country marks the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral award, which affirms the Philippines’ exclusive sovereign rights over the WPS under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“The Award reminds us of what is at stake when baseless narratives are allowed to harden into claims, claims are used to justify presence, and presence is used to normalize coercion,” Oban said.

READ: Chinese scholars’ Batanes claim has no basis, ‘a joke’ – Teodoro

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He, moreover, said that the country should not allow “manufactured history to become manufactured rights, nor a fabricated dispute,”

“Batanes is, and will always remain, an integral and indivisible part of the Republic of the Philippines. There is no dispute to settle, no claim to negotiate, and no ambiguity to resolve,” Oban emphasized. /jpv

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